


Saved by the Belle

by EstelleDusk



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2013-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-13 09:04:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstelleDusk/pseuds/EstelleDusk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warrior Belle sees Rumplestiltskin being carted away and rushes to save him from Prince Charming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saved by the Belle

**Author's Note:**

> This work is based on a photoset on tumblr: http://mallymunestelledusk.tumblr.com/post/51656850859/darkmasterplan-professional-widow

After defeating the Yaoguai and bringing Phillip to Mulan, she started on her own way. Like she told the warrior and the prince, she had something important to do. She had to go home.

Who knows what trouble Rumplestiltskin had gotten himself into while she was gone?

She only hopes he hasn't killed anyone and stuck the body in her old room as some form of revenge for doing as he said and leaving.

As Belle walks to the top of a tree-barren hill, she hears a commotion and wonders who needs help now. Part of her is cursing her slow speed, she's only halfway to Rumplestiltskin's castle. The other part of her is too busy thinking about the various people she knew once upon a time in this kingdom that she prays haven't gotten into any trouble.

She dashes over the hill and spies a prison carriage being loaded up. Squinting her eyes, she swears she can recognize the unruly hair and leather-clad body. It's only when a high pitched giggle sounds through the night that she realizes who it is.

"WAIT!" She yells at the top of her lungs, immediately running down the hill and for the carriage. The knights surrounding the caged carriage don't seem to hear her and she feels a minor twinge at self-satisfaction that her True Love was wrong about her being loud enough to be heard in another kingdom. She yells again, slowly the knights take notice of her and alert the person in charge.

By the time she reaches the carriage, a man she once knew steps forward and asks what she's doing here. He also demands she leave the premises at once because of the very dangerous man they've finally caged.

The man in the cage however, perks up at the sight of her and quietly mouths her name as he reaches for the bars closest to her.

"James, you can't do this. Rumplestiltskin...if you lock him up, then he can't protect you from Regina." Belle says after she takes a moment to catch her breath and think up a white lie. She can feel the tiny glare the imp sends her, and is grateful when he doesn't call her out on her lie.

Prince James suddenly gets a confused look in his eyes and sends his knights away to continue looking for Cinderella's Prince. He tries to speak a few times, to dispel the awkwardness he feels from this...warrior woman knowing who he is, yet not knowing who she is.

Rumplestiltskin giggles his high-pitched giggle and James glares at him whereas Belle gives him a disapproving smirk that she quickly exchanges for feigned innocence and cluelessness when James looks at her again due to the imp's words. "Oh, she already know, dearie.  _Belle_  was my caretaker a long time ago. Although...if I had known she wasn't  _dead_  then I would have hired her again. The castle's been getting dusty in your absence, Princess."

"Princess? Princess Belle of the Marchlands? You're supposed to be dead!" James replies with complete astonishment.

Belle gives the both of them funny looks. "Well as you can see...I'm alive. I've just been adventuring, defeating the Yaoguai, and wandering with an Oriental Warrior since I left Rumplestiltskin's home."

"Your father, King Maurice, he told me that Queen Regina had stopped by to say that this...imp had you killed. I was asked to avenge your death." James replies.

Rumplestiltskin's eyes narrow quickly as he figures out who he'll have to kill later. "And I was told...by Regina that when you got home, your father called in the clerics and locked you in a tower because it was believed I...tarnished you with my association. You apparently later jumped and fell to your death."

Belle is taken aback at the news that she's been said to be dead. She does remember running into Regina shortly after she left on her quest to fight the Yaoguai...but she had managed to get away and has been hiding with Mulan in the Orient ever since. "Well...I guess there's now another reason why I can't go back to my father once you release Rumplestiltskin, James."

"I'm not releasing him. And of course you're going back there, you have to tell your father that you're alive."Jame gives her a stern look that he quickly realizes doesn't work on her.

She giggles and puts a hand on the finger the prince pointed at her unconsciously and lowers his hand. "Regina didn't fully lie to Rumplestiltskin. After being banished by him, I went back to the Marchlands. My father called the clerics to cleanse me. And I did jump. But before leaving the Dark Castle, I may have borrowed a few spells and spools of gold." She sheepishly shrugs when her True Love realizes where his missing things went.

"And a pair of trousers. Yes, these are yours, and I think I look much better in them than you do." She admits after a few seconds of silence. "So, I'm fine. And you will be releasing him because he has to go kill Regina for making everyone believe I was dead. Although I won't be allowing him to kill anyone, so we'll probably be holed up in the Dark Castle for a few weeks. I'll be making dummies, and he'll be throwing things at the dummies. Hopefully he won't throw the teapot again."

"I...uhh, replaced the porcelain one...it fell." Rumplestiltskin giggles when she gives him an exasperated look.

Charming looks between the Dark One and the Dead Princess. Slowly his mind realizes what exactly he's seeing. He murmurs, "A brief flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness..."

"I'm sorry?" Belle asks while Rumplestiltskin glares at the prince for repeating his old words.

Prince James takes a deep breath before turning around and facing the imp. He points the the Dark One and attempts to sound as stern and un-moving as he can. "Listen you, I'm not going to release you, not fully. We're taking you to the dungeon we made for you. Belle will be your personal guard along with some of my own guards. And I'm going to figure out a way to make your castle like the dungeon. You're going to be under house arrest. You won't be able to do your usual deals. You won't be able to leave your home. You won't be able to hurt anyone. And you will return Prince Thomas to Cinderella."

"Thomas is missing?  _Rumplestiltskin_ , what did you do?" Belle sighs heavily.

" _I_ did nothing, Belle. It's not my fault no one reads the contracts they sign with me. And it was most definitely not my fault that they tried to break a deal with me. As for the deal, I gave Ella what she needed to get the life she wanted. And I asked for her firstborn child or next of kin. Well...I didn't necessarily say that I would take that, but it was plainly written in the contract she signed. It's  _also_  not my fault that she didn't read it."

"Well if her contract was half as long as the one you had me sign after I arrived in the castle, then I wouldn't blame her. I may love books, but I don't love contracts that are as long my books. James, Rumplestiltskin and I agree to most of your demands. The only one we can't agree to is Thomas being freed...we can however arrange something." Belle tells the shepard-turned-prince.

"No, no, no, no, don't you dare give out my secrets, girl." Rumplestiltskin quickly says, realizing what she might say.

"Now, I'd like to be in there with him while we make our way to his dungeon. We can discuss the arrangement later, once you've discovered a way for your plan to work." Belle ignores him and walks over to the cage door.

After a moment of thought, against his better judgement, James puts Belle in the carriage with Rumplestiltskin and they are soon on their way. Whenever someone asks him, he simply replies, "she has information on how we can get Thomas back but is not willing to talk here."

\--

One chilly morning in Storybrooke, Emma Swan is having her mugshot taken for a crime even the Sheriff knows she didn't commit. Into the police station walks two individuals. One is a gorgeous brunette in a blue sundress. And the other is a well-dressed brunet with a cane and a snarky attitude. On his ankle is a very obvious house arrest cuff.

"Hello, Sheriff Graham, Mr. Gold and I are just here for the weekly check-in." The woman smiles brightly while the man with the cane simple glares at the sheriff and Emma.

"Oh, look, now I'm not the only jailbird in town. What's your name, dearie?"

"Emma, Emma Swan. And you are?"

"Mr. Gold, I own this town and that's the only reason I won't be joining you in a cell. Now, Sheriff, can you just check the cuff and let us be on our way?" Mr. Gold's attitude is suddenly less snarky and more overwhelmed.

The Sheriff bites his lip and sighs before giving Emma a look that obviously means, "what can you do?" He then kneels on the ground and checks that the cuff around Mr. Gold's ankle is still working properly. "Alright, you can go, remember to come in next week."

At the moment that Sheriff Graham stands up, Henry Mills and his teacher, Mary Margaret Blanchard walk in. As Mr. Gold and his companion, leave, they hear something about the schoolteacher bailing the bailbonds-woman out of jail. The two of them share a quiet laugh before quickly making their way to the pawnshop they own and work at.

The woman quickly finds Mr. Gold a chair. She then sits on the counter. They sit in silence for what seems like hours as they sort through newly awakened memories. The woman is the first to speak, albeit hesitantly. "Rumple?"

"Oh, Belle...I wasn't sure if it worked." He makes a motion, as if to hug her, but stops, unsure.

Belle lights up at hearing her real name spoken for the first time in 28 years. "Oh, Rumple!" She does what he's afraid to, she hugs him tightly and kisses his lips, his cheek, anywhere she can reach. "There's no magic here, we don't have to be careful."


End file.
